Welcome back to Term 4!

High Schools leading the way with recycling

Emmanuel Catholic College – Recycle Hub 

Emmanuel Catholic College has been an accredited WasteSorted School since 2012. They run a range of initiatives that reduce waste to landfill including clothing drives, organic recycling, Containers for Change collection and embed waste education into their curriculum.  

In 2022, their Director of Environmental Education, Jessica Milne, proposed to their principal and P&F committee the idea of building a central Recycling Hub to allow the whole school community to drop-off their hard-to-recycle items such as batteries and aerosols. The P&F committed $15,000 for the construction of the Recycle Hub and they successfully applied for a WasteSorted Schools grant to cover the costs of the bins. 

Construction was completed in March 2023, and they launched the Recycle Hub in April with a house competition to get the message out to the whole school community.

In just over 12 months, they have collected:  

  • 30,000 bottle tops 
  • 10,682 containers 
  • 10,534 batteries 
  • 8,381 bread tags 
  • 1,390 aerosol cans 
  • 157 printer cartridges 
  • 152 light globes 
  • 70 oral care items. 

Students receive either Christian Service Hours or House Points depending on the items they drop-off and all money raised from Containers for Change goes back into their environmental initiatives around the school.  

Ellenbrook Secondary College - Containers for Change Collection

Ellenbrook Secondary College has been accredited with WasteSorted Schools for 9 years. Over the last 18 months they have been focusing on their Containers for Change, which is supported by their facilities manager, Ruth Botica and their gardeners, Kath Barrett and Mick Wright.

Their Containers for Change bins are located next to their general waste bins, and both are clearly labelled. They are placed in high traffic areas and use the Australian Standard colour for their general waste, which is red and the well-recognised teal and white Containers for Change bins.   

Like many schools, they have some contamination in their Containers for Change bins, so they needed a system to separate the containers from the contamination. They were fortunate enough that their Certificate in Business teacher, Judith Hunt was teaching a unit all about sustainable practices in businesses and was able to allocate one lesson per week for her class to carry out the Containers for Change separation and collection process.  

Students use trolleys and rubbish grabbers that were funded by a WasteSorted Schools grant in 2023 to collect the containers in the trolleys and remove the contamination into the general waste bins. The students then take the trolleys to their large Containers for Change collection bin, which is in their carpark and easily accessible to the wider community. The gardeners meet the students at the collection bin to unlock it and monitor when a collection needs to be arranged.

Their large bin is provided and serviced by Good Sammys and originally was collected once a term. Now they are finding that their collection systems are working so well, it needs to be collected up to three times a term. Over the last 18 months, they have raised close to $1,000 for their school and stopped 12,500 containers ending up in landfill.  

Accreditation

Congratulations to the following schools for achieving 10 years of accreditation as a WasteSorted School this year!

Curtin Primary School

Dalmain Primary School

Greenwood Primary School

Leda Primary School

Mindarie Senior College

Pearsall Primary School

Rossmoyne Primary School

St Damien's Catholic Primary School

St Denis School

St Thomas' Primary School

Swan View Primary School

Two Rocks Primary School

Congratulations to the following schools for achieving 5 years of accreditation as a WasteSorted School this year!

Albany Senior High School

Bindoon Primary School

Bull Creek Primary School

Carey Baptist College - Forrestdale Campus

East Butler Primary School

Gwynne Park Education Support Centre

Inglewood Primary School

Kalamunda Senior High School

Koorana Primary School

Mel Maria Catholic Primary School - St Joseph Pignatelli Campus

Mount Lawley Primary School

Rapids Landing Primary School

St Elizabeth's Catholic Primary School

Useless Loop Primary School

West Coast Secondary Education Support Centre

Term 4 workshops

Containers for Change webinar

Date: Tuesday 15 October

Time: 3.15–4.30pm

WasteSorted Schools will be hosting the Containers for Change team to learn how to set up a Containers for Change collection at school.

Register: Webinar: Containers for Change in a School Setting

WasteSorted Schools workshop for high schools

Date: Tuesday 22 October

Time: 9am–2.45pm

Venue: Kent Street Senior High School

This workshop is just for high schools! Join us for a full day of talk about waste avoidance and recovery initiatives in a high school setting. 

Register: WasteSorted Schools high schools workshop

WasteSorted Schools curriculum and planning for 2025 workshop

Date: Tuesday 26 November

Time: 9am–3pm

Venue: Canning River Eco Education Centre

Join the WasteSorted Schools team to discuss planning waste avoidance and reduction projects at your school in 2025.

Register: WasteSorted Schools curriculum and planning for 2025 

Regional Workshops

WasteSorted Schools after school organics workshop – Bencubbin

Date: Wednesday 16 October

Time: 3pm–5pm

Venue: Bencubbin Primary School

Join the team from WasteSorted Schools to learn how our program and resources can support you to divert your organic waste in school settings.

Register: WasteSorted Schools - After School - organics workshop: Bencubbin 

Student Meet 2024

Over 200 students, from 22 schools across the metro area, came together in Term 3 to discuss all things waste, recycling and sustainability at the 2024 WasteSorted Schools Student Meet. 

A massive thank you to the staff and students at Emmanuel Catholic College for hosting the event, which involved planning, preparing, setting up and running the day. We would also like to thank our guest speaker, Samuel Thomas, who shared his journey of co-founding Sam’s Spares, an organisation that collects, repairs and donates electronics to people in need instead of sending the items to landfill.  

It was inspiring to hear the student presentations from Kent Street Senior High School, John Curtin College of the Arts, Duncraig Senior High School and Emmanuel Catholic College, who have implemented a range of projects at their schools from Containers for Change collections to composts and edible food gardens.  

Lastly, we wouldn’t have had such an awesome vibe throughout the day without our amazing stall holders who attended and set up games and activities all to do with sustainability!  

We look forward to seeing even more high schools engaged in the event in 2025!  

Watch a short video from the event here.

WasteSorted Award Winners 2024

Congratulations to Somerly Primary School and Carine Senior High School who were announced as the winners of the WasteSorted Awards 2024 – Schools Award.

Initially inspired to do something about the juice boxes that were being thrown away, Somerly Primary School has since evolved their commitment to reduce waste and embed sustainability into their school culture and everyday activities. Introducing Waste Warriors into classrooms has empowered students to educate their peers about correct waste sorting, bin emptying and the compost system.  

A whole school approach to sustainability requires long-term planning and support from all staff and students. Carine Senior High School achieve this by implementing projects such as an annual fashion swap shop, eco station collection points and installing a kitchen garden. By upskilling others, the message of waste avoidance and proper waste management is shared amongst the whole school and has become part of the culture.

Well done to Mount Lawley Primary School and John Curtin College of the Arts, who were also both finalists.

Congratulations to Kathy Anketell from Lynwood Senior High School who was named the winner of the Waste Champion Individual Award and to Perth Waldorf School who were finalists in the Waste Champion Team Award.

It’s great to see schools and their communities being recognised for the wonderful contribution they are making towards waste avoidance and resource recovery.

Read the stories of all the winners here.

Waste Station fact sheet

Waste stations have proven to be an effective way of encouraging people to separate their waste at the source. Good placement of bins, consistent colours, clear signage, and education are some of the ways you can encourage your school community to sort waste correctly. Find more information about setting up waste stations at your school in our new waste station fact sheet.

High School textiles incursion

Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council have launched an exciting new incursion that brings sustainable fashion education directly to your high school! Exclusively available free of charge to high schools in their member council areas of Town of Bassendean, City of Bayswater, Shire of Mundaring and City of Swan, this program is designed to inspire students to think critically about the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry and discover ways to create positive change.

Send an email to circularteam@emrc.org.au to express your interest or find out more about the program.

Schools Recycle Right challenge 2024

Schools Recycle Right Challenge runs from 7 October to 17 November 2024 and offers a wide range of recycling themed activities, lesson plans and events ideas that have been developed specifically for Australian schools. Their lesson plans cover topics such as Australian recycling labels, material upcycling, plastic recycling using enzymes and reducing food waste.

Get Involved at School - Planet Ark Recycling Near You

Plastic Free Riverpark grant

The Plastic Free Riverpark program works with schools within 2km of the Swan and Canning Rivers to reduce single-use plastic packaging in and around the rivers. Grant funds of $1000 are available to schools who would like to introduce reusable serve-ware in their canteens, just like Mosman Park Primary School did. Applications close on Friday 29 November 2024. See here for details.

 

The Plastic Free Riverpark program supports Western Australia’s Plan for Plastics legislation which has introduced regulations to ban selected single-use plastic items. To find out what single-use items are still allowed in Western Australia, check out the Ban Solution Finder | Alternatives to Single-Use Plastics in Australia.

MobileMuster's Schools' Competition

MobileMuster's Schools' Competition is back for 2024!

The theme for this year is 'What's in a phone?', and to participate, students can submit any one of the following:   Artwork (photo, drawing, sculpture, painting, digital) or a Short Film (1 minute). about this topic.

Open to both primary and secondary students, the grand prize is a virtual zoo visit from Taronga Zoo and a $4,000 JB Hi-Fi Gift Card.

Entries are open from 1 August until 1 November, 2024. Terms and conditions apply, see the Mobile Muster website for details.

Outdoor Classroom Day

Outdoor Classroom Day is happening on 7 November. This global movement aims to inspire and celebrate outdoor play and learning, at home and at school. For more information and inspiration see the Outdoor Classroom Day website.

Why not use an activity from one of our WasteSorted Schools curriculum guides to engage your students with some fun, hands-on, outdoor activities on the day?

WasteSorted Schools Incursions

Waste Audit

Conducting a waste audit is a necessary step to becoming an accredited WasteSorted School. This fun and informative incursion helps you find out the types and amount of waste your school produces. The data collected can be used to prioritise and improve existing waste projects.

WasteSorted Race

Are your students struggling with the correct waste sorting behaviours? Or have you introduced a new bin system at your school, like paper recycling or FOGO? Book our WasteSorted Race incursion to help students learn the importance of source separation.

Paper Making Kit

If you are looking for a hands-on way to educate your student about the recycling process, why not borrow our paper making kit? This kit contains all the equipment needed for you and your students to participate in the process of turning old, scrap paper into new, usable paper.

To organise a booking in the metro area, please contact us at wastesortedschool@dwer.wa.gov.au.

Just for fun

What do you call it when two bins are having a chat? -Trash Talk.

 

For more information about the items in this newsletter or for any questions about the WasteSorted Schools Program, please contact us at wastesortedschools@dwer.wa.gov.au.